Marvel Cancels MMORPG

Cryptic Studios has shut the lid on production for a massively multiplayer online game that would have pit Marvel comic characters together in a big melee.

"Marvel and we have agreed to end development on the MMO," said Microsoft Games Studios head Shane Kim in an interview with MTV's Multiplayer gaming blog.

Marvel Universe Online was first announced in September 2006 and it was never given a firm release date. Rumors of the game's cancellation spiked late last year but no one at Microsoft or Cryptic was ready to confirm the decision. Now it's official.